History
Richard Beddard Nifty Thrifty is an investing strategy based on the approach of UK investor and journalist, Richard Beddard of Interactive Investor. It combines quality and value factors using Joel Greenblatt's Magic Formula and Joseph Piotroski's F-Score. The Magic Formula ranks stocks for value and quality using the earnings yield and return on capital as its key metrics. The F-Score is a 9-point checklist of financial health, of which stocks qualifying for this strategy must pass at least 5. Beddard said: "I don't really see how you can be an investor if you're not trying to understand businesses; how they make money, and what makes them go bust." Between June 2010 and December 2014, Beddard's own Nifty Thrifty portfolio had returned 47%. more »

This is Stockopedia's version of Joel Greenblatt's Magic Formula expressed as a perhaps more understandable percentile ranking where zero is worst and 100 is best. For example if you wanted to screen for the 10% best ranking stocks in the market you would set:

The Piotroski F-Score is a nine-criteria scoring system developed by financial academic, Joseph Piotroski in a famous research paper. Each of the nine points relate to the change in a ratio based on the company's accounts. For a full definition please Read this Article

Stockopedia explains Piotroski F-Score...

Companies with a score of 8 or 9 have been found as a group to outperform weak stocks by 7.5% annually over a 20 year period. The weakest stocks, scoring 2 or lower, were found by Piotroski to be five times more likely to fall into financial problems.